Feature Story -- And, Yes, It's About The Bakken -- September 8, 2021

The feature story: is North Dakota's oil industry finally bouncing back? Link to Felicity Bradstock. The lede:

Since 2010, North Dakota’s oil industry has boomed, putting McKenzie on the map as the fastest-growing county in the U.S. Following a year and a half of pandemic, the state’s oil industry is bouncing back, with the potential to expand its energy output over the next decade. Even before Covid-19 hit, sending the world’s oil industry into a tailspin, oil prices in McKenzie soared to $130 a barrel before crashing to less than $40 a barrel. Crude oil production in the country increased by 1,800 percent between 2010 and 2014, as discoveries from the 1950s could finally be exploited thanks to new fracking technologies, sending workers flocking to the region and doubling the local population over a decade.

After a decade of growth, the government estimates that tens of billions of barrels could still be sitting in the ground waiting to be tapped. A once unknown town, Watford City is now well-known and popular among young families looking to make good money of the state’s booming oil industry. And the infrastructure, such as schools and housing has grown around McKenzie’s energy sector.

North Dakota has experienced significant development in recent years, largely due to the advancement of the oil industry in the west of the state. As well as basic local level infrastructure, the state has also seen the construction of hotels, restaurants, and a new airport, with state revenues of $12 billion coming directly from oil. The state’s oil industry also supports around 35,000 direct workers and over 65,000 indirect jobs.

I will archive the story. 

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